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THE INVASION OF IRELAND 



BY EDWARD BRUCE 



A THESIS 

PEESENTED to the FACUIiTY OF PHILOSOPHY OP IHE 

University of Pennsylvania 



By 
CAROLINE COLVIN 



In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements 

foe the degree 

Doctor of Philosophy 



PHILADELPHIA 
1901 



THE INVASION OF IRELAND 



BY EDWARD BRUCE 



A THESIS 

Peesented to the Faculty of Philosophy of the 
Univeesity of Pennsylvania 



By 
CAROLINE COLVIN 



In Paetial Fulfillment of the Requieemen^s 

for the degeee ^> 

Doctoe of Philosophy 






PHILADELPHIA 

1901 






PRESS OF 

THE NEW ERA PRrNTING COMPANI^ 

LANCASTER, PA. 



P. 



Ir^lP' 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. 

Page. 

Conditions in Ireland During the Early Part of the 
Fourteenth Century, 5 



CHAPTER n. 

Edward Bruce' s Invasion op Ireland and Occupation of 
Ulster from May 1315 to October 1318, . . . .18 



CHAPTER III. 
Conclusion, 53 

Bibliography, 59 



THE INVASION OF IRELAND. 



CHAPTER I. 
CONDITIONS IN IRELAND. 

Early in the fourteenth century the people of Ireland, espe- 
cially those of the northern part, began to watch the struggle 
of the Scotch nation for independence with a new interest 
and increasing sympathy. This feeling expressed itself at 
first in a passive rather than an active manner, for the only 
direct assistance offered was an asylum to Robert Bruce on the 
Island of Rathlin in 1306,' and a badly managed expedition by 
a company of Irishmen who had been enlisted by Thomas and 
Alexander Bruce, which was cut to pieces while trying to effect 
a landing on the coast of Galloway.^ 

The successes of the Scots threw a new light on the English 
government and showed the weakness of Edward II. as com- 
pared with his father, in consequence of which the Irish began 
to withdraw from his service. This fact becomes very signifi- 
cant in view of the large numbers of Irishmen who had fought 
in the wars in Scotland ^ and Gascony,* a single request calling 

1 Barbour, The Bruce, Bk. III.; Tytler, Hist, of Scot., I., p. 212. 

2 Matt. West., p. 458. 

^Calendar State Papers, Ireland (1293-1301), §§ 40, 42, 46, 47, 144; AnnaU 
of Ireland, in Chartularies, etc., St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin, II., p. 329 ; Annals 
of Loch Ce, I., pp. 525, 529; Annals of Ulster, II., pp. 389, 391, 397, 401 ; 
Kishanger, p. 161. 

In preparing for the Scotch campaign of 1303 the king addressed individ- 
ual letters to one hundred and eighty-four of the leading men in Ireland, both 
English and Irish. — Rymer, I., p. 938. 

* Cal. State Papers, Ireland (1252-1284), §§ 190, 191, 310, 398, 404; Rishanger, 

p. 414. 

5 



6 THE INVASION OF lEELAND. 

for as many as ten thousand foot-soldiers.^ These troops were 
led by the viceroy and nobles of Ireland who were sometimes 
treated with marked distinction by the king.^ Supplies in con- 
siderable quantity had also been drawn from the markets of 
Dublin and Drogheda ; ^ besides purveyance directly by order 
of the king permission to buy provisions in Ireland was often 
granted to private individuals, usually with but one restriction, 
that they were not to be sold to the Scots.* 

This drain upon the resources of the Colonists and the fre- 
quent absences of the more powerful leaders were important 
causes of the internal disturbances which, toward the close of the 
thirteenth and during the early part of the succeeding century, 
were unusually widespread and destructive. The Irish and the 
English in Ireland not only warred with each other but 
each race had feuds to the death within itself.' Even the 
religious organizations were unable to live in peace ; the mon- 
asteries had begun to make a racial distinction, and the 
chapters of Christ church and St. Patrick's in Dublin while 
they quarrelled between themselves for precedence® united 

lEymer, I., p. 829. 

^Char., etc., II., p. 326. 

' Hist, and Munie. Doc. of Ireland, sub annos 1312-1313 ; Rotuli Scotice, 
L, p. 139 ; Cal. State Papers, Ireland (1293-1301), p. 399. 

In March, 1314, the following order was to be shipped to Skyburnes for the 
use of the English army : ' ' Two thousand quarters of wheat, one-half to be 
ground and barreled ; two thousand quarters of oats ; two hundred quarters of 
rough salt; two thousand salt fish and five hundred butts of wine." In addi- 
tion, the mayor and bailiffs of the city of Dublin were to provide twelve good 
arbalasts with fitting gear and ten thousand bolts. — Hist, and Munic. Doc, pp. 
326, 327. 

* Patent and Close Bolls of Beign of Edward II., and Eymer. (Numerous 
entries. ) 

* Irish Ann<ils of this period. 

* Lascelles, lAber Munerum Pvhlicorum Hibernice, II. , pp. 34, 35. 



CONDITIONS IN IRELAND. 7 

in an effort to take from the see of Armagh her ancient pri- 
matical right.^ 

The viceroy, or justiciary, who represented the English 
government in Ireland did not at this time occupy a position 
of very great actual power although it would seem from 
the usual terms of his patent that he was well supported. 
He was appointed during the pleasure of the king and changes 
were frequent. He received from the Dublin exchequer £500 
a year and was required to maintain in the king's service 
twenty men-at-arms, including himself, with as many capari- 
soned horses.^ He was also entitled to levy from the colony 
provisions of all kinds for his troops and household for which 
he paid "the king's price." ^ Whatever may have been his 
power, theoretically, to call out a sufficient force in case of an 
uprising of the natives or the revolt of an Anglo-Norman lord, 
he was practically dependent upon his own retainers and such 
voluntary assistance as might be given him by interested 
parties.* Nothing that could really be called an army was 
sent to Ireland from the time of King John until 1361 when 
Lionel, duke of Clarence, had become earl of Ulster.* 

^Ibid., II., p. 2; Abbe MacGeoghegan, Hist, of Ireland, p. 325; Eymer, 
11. , p. 47; Patent Rolls, Ed. II., II., p. 77; Chart., etc., II., p. 342. This 
trouble become so serious that in 1308 the king sent an order to his justiciary 
to permit the archbishop of Armagh to carry his cross, when in Dublin, as 
had been his right heretofore. Even this did not prevent their followers com- 
ing to blows in 1313. 

^Patent Bolls, Ed. 11, I., p. 568 ; II., p. 207. 

* Gilbert, Viceroys, p. 120. 

* Owing to the existence of five distinct governments the custom of hostages 
had grown into quite an elaborate system (see regulations of as early as the 
laws of Senchus Mor) and was extensively used by the viceroys as a means of 
insuring peace and order. They exacted hostages from the Anglo-Norman 
lords as well as from the native chiefs.— ^ncieni Laws and Institutes of Ireland, 
II., Pref., p. xlii. 

* Da vies. Discovery (in Ireland under Elizabeth and James I.), p. 227. 



8 THE INVASION OF IRELAND. 

The internal troubles were so general as to interfere seri- 
ously with the assistance which the king expected in his war 
with Scotland and in 1311 he sent instructions to the prin- 
cipal officers of the crown, together with the Earl of Ulster, 
asking them to devise some means of settling or at least de- 
ferring their quarrels ; ^ but matters became worse instead of 
better, and in 1312 the viceroy, John Wogan, was ignomin- 
iously defeated and a number of his men killed by Robert Ver- 
dun, in Louth.^ The most serious feud however was that of 
the de Burghs and Geraldines which for more than a quarter 
of a century had kept the north central part of Ireland in a 
state of turmoil, with an occasional peace brought about by 
the good offices of the justiciary.^ Richard de Burgh, earl 
of Ulster, usually had the upper hand but in 1294 John Fitz- 
Thomas, after he had triumphed over William de Vesey, took 
the earl prisoner and detained him in the castle of Ley until he 
was compelled by the king to liberate him " for good hostages 
of his own people " ; an event which is spoken of by the 
annalists as causing much anxiety and disturbance throughout 
the entire country.* The parties came to an amicable settle- 
ment in 1312 upon the marriage of two of the earl's daughters 
to two members of the Geraldine family,^ Thomas Fitz-John who 
in 1316 succeeded his father as earl of Kildare,^ and Maurice 

Eichey, Short Histot'y of the Irish People, p. 206. Lionel married the daughter 
and heir of William de Burgh, earl of Ulster, who was assassinated in 1333. 
See page 55. 

J Rymer, E. II., p. 144. 

^ Char., etc., 11. , pp. 340-1. Appendix III. Proceedings relative to the 
uprising of Verdun, from the Plea Eolls. 

3 Grace, p. 45 ; Char., etc., II., p. 325. 

* Grace, p. 43, note 1., p. 42 ; Annals of Loch Ce, I., pp. 511, 513 ; Char., etc., 
II., p. 323 ; Annals of Ulster, II., pp. 383, 385. 

5 Char., etc., II., p. 341. 

^Ibid., 352. 



CONDITIONS IN IRELAND. 9 

Fitz-Thomas who was later created first earl of Desmond.^ 
The most serious of the native quarrels, that between two 
branches of the O'Conor family for the succession in Connaught, 
was still unsettled at the time of the invasion. This family 
feud between the Cathal-Crovderg and the Clann-Murtough 
factions dated from the time of the conquest, having begun with 
the sons of Roderic O'Conor last native monarch of Ireland. 
Its history is one long series of open conflicts, private murders, 
burning and pillaging, with the English frequently assisting 
first one side and then the other as best suited their interests. ^ 
William de Burgh, brother of the earl, soon managed to get 
practical control of the province for there was no Irish prince 
strong enough to assert his claim ^ until in 1310 Felim O'Conor 
through the influence of his foster father, Mac Diarmada, was 
inaugurated king of Connaught with all the ancient ceremonies.^ 
Although Felim was only seventeen years old he was thought to 
give promise of unusual ability and seems to have possessed at- 
tractive personal qualities, but his own people were not united 
and the balance of power was still in the hands of the de Burghs. 
There were at this time in Ireland, according to the scheme 
of organization of the English government, chartered cities,^ of 
which there were four, Dublin, Waterford, Limerick and Cork ; 
counties, each having a sheriff appointed by the king; and 
liberties, which were similar to the so-called counties Palatine, 
and to the marches of Scotland and Wales in England. The 

> Lynch, W., Legal Institutes, etc., p. 179. (From Chief Remembrancer Roll, 
Dublin.) ; Lodge, Peerage, I., p. 63. 

'Annals of Loch Ce, Ulster, and Annak of the Kingdom of Ireland, by the Four 
Masters. 

' Annals of Loch Ce, I. , p. 553. 

*Ibid., p. 555. 

* ChartcB, Privilegia et Immunitates, pp. 1, 36, 42. 



10 THE INVASION OF IRELAND. 

lords of the latter had almost absolute power in their own 
dominions for the king, being dependent on their conquests 
and support for his lordship of Ireland, had had few oppor- 
tunities to interfere with their internal administration. Davies 
says, "they made barons and knights, did exercise high justice 
in all points within their territories, erected courts for criminal 
and civil cases, and for their own revenues, in the same form as 
the King's courts were established at Dublin ; made their own 
judges, seneschals, sheriffs, coroners, and escheators, so as the 
King's writ did not run in those counties, which took up more 
than two parts of the English Colonies, but only in the church 
lands lying within the same, which were called the Cross, 
wherin the King made a sheriff. And so in each of these 
Counties Palatine there were two sheriffs, one of the Liberty 
and another of the Cross. . . . No tenures or services were 
reserved to the Crown, and the lords drew all the respect and 
dependency of the common people unto themselves." ^ 

Of these liberties, the largest and most powerful was the 
united provinces of Ulster and Connaught whose lord, it will 
be seen later, was regarded as the first Englishman in Ireland. 
These lordships, both before and after their union, had been 
singularly free from disputed succession. Ulster, either through 
forfeiture by John de Courci^ or lack of heirs, had reverted to 
the king and was granted in 1205 to Hugh de Lacy^ whose only 

1 Davies, Discovery, p. 279. 

"^Booh of Howth., pp. 112-115. Although no patent is known to exist 
creating de Courci earl of Ulster, it is clear from the terms of the patent to 
de Lacy and other evidences that he exercised the powers of such a position. 
Lynch, Legal Institutions, pp. 144, 145, 177. 

^ Lynch, Legal Institutions, pp. 145, 177. ( From Charter Roll T. L. ) He 
was a son of the Hugh de Lacy who had received Meath from Henry II. 
in 1172.— CArw., etc., 11. , p. 304. 



CONDITIONS IN IRELAND. 11 

daughter Maude married Walter de Burgh, lord of Connaught.^ 
Their son Richard the Red, who is described as "a man 
prudent, witty, rich and wise,^ and the choicest of all the 
foreigners of Erin,"' succeeded his father in 1271/ was head of 
his house until 1326,^ and was the most powerful of all the 
earls of Ulster. As a leader of the forces brought from Ire- 
land he had served the king in numerous wars in AVales, 
Gascony and Scotland/ being especially prominent in the last. 
It is said that before starting on the expedition of 1303 he 
created thirty-three knights in Dublin castle,^ a precedent 
which was followed later by the viceroy.® In 1308 he showed 
his independence of the king and contempt for his representa- 
tive by disregarding Edward's request to give aid and counsel 
to Gaveston,^ and instead held a sort of rival court in the 
castle of Trim where he conferred knighthood on some of 
his followers, including Hugh and "Walter de Lacy ^^ of West 
Meath. The king, for some reason, did not resent his treatment 
of Gaveston, but soon afterward appointed him to the custody 
of the castles of Roscommon, Randoun, and Athlone," and, on 

^Char., etc., II., p. 315. He was a grandson of William Fitz-Adelm de 
Burgh, first lord of Connaught, and was made earl of Ulster by patent in 
1264.— Lodge, Peerage, I., p. 120. 

* Grace, p. 161. 

''Loch Ce, Vol. I., p. 605. 

*Char., etc., II., p. 290. 

^Ibid., p. 364. 

6 Gilbert, Viceroys, p. 127 ; Ulster, Ce, Char., etc., Grace, Four Masters. 

^Char., etc., II., p. 331. 

^Ibid., p. 343. 

» Pat. Bolls, I. , p. 83. John, son and heir of the earl of Ulster, and de Gaves- 
ton were both married to sisters of the earl of Gloucester, nieces of the king 
{Chron. and Mem. of Ed. I. and II., pp. 156, 264), and Gloucester's second 
wife was a daughter of the earl {Char., etc., II., p. 338). 

'°Char., etc., II., p. 338. 

i> Col. Patent Rolls, I., p. 182. 



12 THE INVASION OF lEELAND. 

account of good services, relieved him of his rent of five hun- 
dred marks for his lands in Connaught.^ In August of this 
year, 1309, he received the highest mark of royal favor in a 
commission granting plenipotentiary powers to treat with 
Robert Bruce or those authorized to act for him ; and safe con- 
duct was provided for those sent from Scotland to Ireland for 
that purpose.^ It is not to be wondered at, as we shall find, 
that this man, who was held in such high esteem by the king 
and whose name stood first in the councils of the colony^ and 
on official documents, should regard the landing of a party of 
foreigners on his own coasts in the light of a private attack 
with which he had both the right and the power to deal. 

In preparing for the Scotch campaign of 1314 Edward II. 
was anxious to have a large contingent from Ireland and 
addressed letters to twenty-six of the most influential native 
chieftains, including Tyrconnel and Tyrone, asking each to 
come himself if possible, and if not to send some noble of his 
house.* Although this appeal was disregarded there is no indi- 
cation of any assistance being offered to the Scots,^ and there 
were doubtless many Irish foot-soldiers in the ranks of those 
who fought in that memorable campaign in Scotland under the 
leadership of the earl of Ulster.^ 

The victory of Bannockburn determined the Irish to make 
an effort for their own independence, in which the people 

1 Cal. Patent Rolls, I., p. 192. 
"Kymer, E. II., p. 85. 

2 Grace, Appendix II. ; Irish Arch. Soc. Pub. Miscellany, I. 
*Eymer, E. II., p. 245. 

5 In 1313 at the time of the reduction of the Isle of Man some Scotch galleys 
had made a descent on the Ulster coast but were driven off apparently without 
having received any aid or sympathy from the Irish. — Char., etc., II., p. 342. 
Ce, p. 561. 

sEymer, E. II., p. 246. 



CONDITIONS IN IRELAND. 13 

of the northeastern section naturally took the initiative. It is 
not necessary here to go into the history of the early migrations 
to prove the connection between the inhabitants of Ulster and 
those of Scotland.^ They were neighbors and kinsmen. The 
Bruces themselves were descended from Dermod MacMurrough, 
and Robert's wife Elizabeth was the daughter of the earl of 
Ulster. The Lacies were connected with the lord of Galloway 
and the Bissetts who held the Island of Rathlin and the district 
of Glenarm ^ had personally befriended Robert Bruce in 1306. 
The king of Scotland, relieved by the defeat of the English 
from the pressure of an outside enemy, began to find in his 
brother Edward a serious problem. He was a man of marked 
bravery and military ability whose services had been invaluable 
in the wars with England, but he was mettlesome, high-spir- 
ited' and impatient of another's authority.* Moreover as the 
brother of the king he considered himself entitled to a share 
in the government* whose independence he had helped to 
establish. It was while this claim of Edward Bruce was 
still unsettled that Donald O'Neill, the most powerful native 
ruler of Ulster, together with other chiefs of the northern septs, 
extended an invitation to him to come over and accept the king- 
ship of all Ireland to which O'Neill was himself heir.^ 

1 Anmtls of Tigernach, Clonmacnoise, Four Masters, etc. 

2 Gilbert, Viceroys, pp. 132, 133; Ulster Journ. of Arch., II., p. 155, 
note j. 

'Fordun, Scotichronicon, L. XII., c. 25. 

* Barbour, Bk. I. He made a truce with the commander of Stirling castle 
without consulting the king but the latter, although displeased, decided to 
observe it. 

5 Fordun, Scotichronicon, L. XII. , c. 25. 

« Memorial to Pope John XXII. Barbour gives a different view : 

The erll of carrik, schir Eduard, 
That stowtar wes than ane libbard, 



14 THE INVASION OF IRELAND. 

Ulster, whose native population now seemed ready to unite 
in the support of Edward Bruce, and in an effort to free 
the whole of the Irish people from the rule of England, was 
of the then five provinces the best suited to take the lead and 
become the base of operations ; it formed a distinct geograph- 
ical unit naturally defended on the south by a chain of 
lakes and morasses, and was only a day's journey from Scot- 
land. But that this appearance of strength and union was very 
deceptive a glance at the history of Ulster will show more 
clearly than was apparent at the time owing to the prestige of 
the name of O'Neill. Very early in the Christian era we find 
the Hy-Nial occupying the north and west while the Rudri- 
cians, a Milesian branch descended from Ir, occupied the south 
and east. Soon after 300 A. D. the latter were driven by the 
Collas out of the section afterward known as Oirghialla, and 
taking their own name with them they retreated to the territory 
lying east of Glen Righ, Lough Neagh and the lower Bann 
where their kingdom of Ulahd remained until the English 
invasion.^ An effort to regain their lost territory resulted in 

And had no will till be in pes. 
Thought that Scotland to litill wes 
Till his brothir and him alsua ; 
Tharfor till purpos can he ta 
That he of [Irland] wald be kyng. 
Tharfor he send and had treting 
With the irischry of Irland, 
That in thar lawte tuk on hand 
Of Irland for to mak him king, 
With thi that he with hard fechting, 
Might ourcum the ynglis men, 
That in the land was wonnand then ; 
And thai suld help with all thair mycht, 

—"The Bruce," Bk. XIV., lines 1-15. 

^Anncds. Ancient Laws & Institutes, II., Pref., p. xlii ; Hill, Plantation of 
Ulster, Chap. I. 



CONDITIONS IN IRELAND. 15 

the celebrated defeat of Magh Rath.^ In the meantime the 
Hy-Nial, who were undisturbed by these troubles in the south, 
had come into prominence under Nial of the Nine Hostages 
a chief who, having been made monarch of Ireland, is said to 
have led the Scots (Irish) against the Romans in Britain.' 
This family descending in two branches, the Cenel-Conaill and 
Cenel-Eoghain, outgrew its territory and having made con- 
quests to the south this new land was occupied by the latter 
and called Tir-Eoghain, while the former remained in the old 
home which now took the name of Tir-Conaill. The Cenel- 
Eoghain became the more powerful, several of its princes be- 
ing elected ard-righ or monarch. From one of these. Nail the 
" black knee," the whole family, early in the tenth century, took 
the name of O'Neill.' 

At the time of the conquest, although there was more or less 
strife among the various septs and there had never been friend- 
ship between Ulahd and the west since the fourth century, the 
power of the O'Neills was recognized as paramount and the whole 
of Ulster was comparatively peaceful. For some time it was 
scarcely affected by the coming of the English. The operations of 
de Courci were confined mainly to the east, and in his struggle with 
the Lacies he even found it to his interest to make " covenant 
and amity " with the Cenel-Eoghain.* It was not long how- 
ever before the two great families began to oppose each other 
for the Cenel-Conaill, by the help of the English of Connaught, 
were able to extend their territory and increase their power. 
These quarrels terminated in 1281 in a fierce battle near Dun- 

1 Irish Arch. Soc Pub., Vol. HI. 
» Four Masters, I., p. 127. Note z. 
» Plantation of Ulster, Chap. I. ; Annals. 
* Annals of Loch Ce, L, p. 235. 



16 THE INVASION OF IKELAND. 

gannon which, without settling the difficulty, left both parties 
weakened. Shortly afterward, in 1286, the earl of Ulster in- 
terfered in the internal affairs of the O'Neills,^ as had so often 
been done with the O' Conors, and having passed through Con- 
naught and Tir-Conaill, establishing his authority and receiving 
hostages, he entered Tyrone and deposed the king, Donald O'Neill, 
putting in his place Mai Calanach O'Neill.^ In 1290 Donald 
expelled Mai and regained his position but was not able to 
keep it for the earl returned and reestablished his own order of 
things. Scarcely had he gone however when Nial was slain 
by Donald ^ and the earl had to come a third time when he 
placed Brian, the son of Aedh Budh O'Neill, in power. In 
1295 Donald again gained the crown,^ after a bloody contest, 
and was left in peace by de Burgh who was now busy with his 
own quarrels and the military service of the English King. 

Such were the conditions in the fourteenth century when it 
was proposed to throw off the English yoke. The prime movers 
in the undertaking were Edward Bruce, dissatisfied and ambi- 
tious ; the king of Scotland, glad of a new field for his brother's 
energy ; and Donald O'Neill whose personal grievances inclined 
him to give up his shadowy claim to the throne of Ireland in 
the hope of immediate betterment. 

Rumors of a Scotch attack on Ireland having reached the king 

^Annals of Loch Ce, I., p. 487 ; Four Masters, III., p. 433. 

*In 1248 the Justiciary invaded Tyrone with an army and the O'Neills in 
a general council decided that, as the English were in the ascendency, it would 
be advisable for the sake of the country to give hostages and make peace 
(Ce, I., p. 383; Four Masters, III., p. 329; Ulster, II., p. 309), and there 
seems to have been no serious trouble again between them and the English 
until this time. 

^Annals of Loch Ce, I., p. 495; Four Masters, III., p. 445; Annals of 
Ulster, II., pp. 367-375. 

* Ce, I., p. 501 ; Four Masters, III., 451. 

s Ce, I., p. 513 ; Four Masters, III., 463. 



CONDITIONS IN lEELAND. 17 

he took steps to acquaint himself with the condition of affairs 
there by appointing in August 1314 Johnde Hothum, a clerk in 
whom he had great confidence, to go to Dublin, ascertain the 
state of the exchequer and report. At the same time mandates 
were issued to the officers of the crown to execute whatever 
Hothum should desire and to call a meeting of the nobles to 
discuss with him the state of the kingdom. ^ Soon afterward 
the king, wishing to have a personal interview on the subject, 
sent for the earl of Ulster together with the keeper to come to 
the parliament soon to be held at Westminster.^ Edward But- 
ler, who had held the position of viceroy with considerable 
efficiency in 1312 and 1313, was asked to again take that office.* 
To further strengthen the English cause the king addressed 
directly eighty-four of the ecclesiastics, nobles, native chiefs and 
city communities, requesting them to give credence to his repre- 
sentatives and assist them in carrying out their plans. ' 

The scheme for establishing the independence of Ireland 
under Edward Bruce as king having met with favor in Scot- 
land preparations were begun for an expedition to Ulster, but 
before it started the Scottish Parliament met at Ayr, in April 
1315, and passed a succession act which provided that if 
Eobert died without male issue his brother was to succeed.* 
Although the proceedings of this parliament make no reference 
to the proposed conquest of Ireland it is very probable, since 
the expedition sailed from Ayr, that the magnates of Scotland 
approved of the undertaking. 

^Patent Bolls, II., p. 165; Close Bolls, II., p. 193; Kymer, K. II., p. 
252. 

2 Kymer, K. II., 256. 

'Ibid., 260. 

* Close Bolls, II., p. 218 ; Kymer, R., II., p. 262. 

^Annals of Scot., Dalrymple, IL, pp. 70-71; Fordun, L., XII., C. 24. 



CHAPTER II. 
BRUCE IN lEELAND. 

On the twenty-sixth of May 1315/ Edward Bruce reached 
the coast of Ireland with three hundred vessels^ and six thous- 
and men, and landed either in Larne harbor or at the mouth 
of the Glendun river.' After disembarking he sent back his 
ships and, having in all probability been joined by native allies, 
set out for the town of Carrickfergus * which then contained the 
principal fortress of Ulster and was conveniently situated for 
communication with Scotland. Bruce's soldiers had the confi- 
dence that comes from experience and success in war and were 
accompanied by a number of prominent military leaders among 
whom were Thomas Randolph, earl of Moray, and Sir John 
Steward.^ On the way they met and defeated a force under 
Mandeville, Logan and the Savages who had come out to 
defend their own possessions, but who were obliged to retreat 
to the castle of Carrickfergus which had recently been sup- 
plied with provisions and men. The Scots followed and after 
taking possession of the town laid siege to the citadel, but as 
it was surrounded on three sides by the sea and separated from 
land by a moat^ they were unable to make any impression 
upon it and finally entered into a truce with the garrison.^ 

^Barbour, Bk. XIV.; Chnr., etc., II., p. 344. 

^Annals of Clonmae., F. M., III., p. 504. 

3 Grace, p. 63 ; Char., etc., II., p. 344 ; Barbour, Bk. XIV. 

* Barbour, Bk. XIV. 

5 Barbour, Bk. XIV.; Char., etc., II., p. 344. 

^ Ulster Journal of Archceology, III. , p. 282. 

T Barbour, Bk. XIV. 

18 



BRUCE IN IRELAND. 19 

•Bruce with his allies now overran Ulster^ and after es- 
tablishing his authority and receiving hostages and reve- 
nues from the people^ started toward Dublin. At a pass 
called Edwillane, near Newry, he was attacked in an ambush 
prepared by two Irish chiefs who had previously supported 
him, but he succeeded in routing them and gaining a quantity 
of supplies.* Upon nearing Dundalk he was met by a con- 
siderable army which, after a hard struggle, fell back into the 
town followed by the Scots and there the fighting, continuing 
in the streets, resulted in the slaughter of many of the inhabi- 
tants. The invaders having found plenty of food and wine re- 
mained there for some days and then continuing their march 
southward ravaged the larger part of Uriel,* plundered the 
church of Ardee of its books, relics and vestments,^ and burned 
it with all the men, women and children who had taken refuge 
in it.^ Their leader then, having heard doubtless of the prepara- 
tions for opposing him and not deeming it wise to separate 
his men from the territory of his allies and the means of 
communication with Scotland, evidently changed his plans and, 
instead of continuing through the English district toward Dublin, 
turned aside to the west or northwest and camped in a wood 
which Barbour calls Kilross.^ 

The preparations for meeting Bruce were strikingly charac- 
teristic of the times and a forcible illustration of the weakness 

^ The eastern part, ancient Ulahd. There is no evidence that Bruce ever 
tried to exercise any authority in the land of the O'Neills (Tir-Eoghain). 
^Annals of Clonmac, F. M., III., p. 505. 
3 Barbour, Bk. XIV. 
* Barbour, Bk. XIV. ; Grace; p. 65. 
sClyn, p. 12. 

« Char., etc., II., p. 345 ; Grace, p. 65. 
T Barbour, Bk. XIV. 



20 THE INVASION OF lEELAND. 

of the central government and of the lack of united action. 
The earl of Ulster, upon learning of the invasion, left his 
home near Galway and assembled his followers from every 
direction at Roscommon, Felim O' Conor king of Connaught 
and his men being of the number. From this meeting place 
they marched down to Athlone and thence across Meath to a 
point south of Dundalk, despoiling the country through which 
they passed.^ In the meantime Edmund Butler, having col- 
lected a force from Munster and Leinster, had started north to 
intercept Bruce and these two independent armies met at 
Ardee. The justiciary had a well-appointed and equipped 
army, larger than that of the earl, but the latter, accustomed to 
considering himself superior to any officer of the crown in 
Ireland, informed Butler that he did not need his assistance, 
that he was himself powerful enough to expel the Scots, 
and that he would promise to deliver Bruce alive or dead 
to the authorities at Dublin.^ To this the justiciary must have 
agreed as he does not appear to have taken any part in the cam- 
paign which followed. The next day the English with their 
Irish following pushed on in pursuit of the invaders and some 
skirmishing took place under William de Burgh at Louth,^ but 
Bruce and his men were evidently afraid to risk a battle and, 
taking the advice of O'Neill and the Ulstermen, they retreated 
northward. The earl followed, and this being the country where 
most of the Irish had joined the Scots he destroyed everything 
in his path sparing " neither corn crop nor residence " and leav- 

^AnTials of Loch Ce, I., p. 565; Annals of Clonmac, F. M., III., p. 505; 
Annals of Ulster, II., p. 423. 

^ Annals of Loch Ce, I., p. 565 ; Annals of Clonmac, F. M., III., p. 506 ; 
Char,, etc., II., pp. 345, 346; Grace, p. 65. 

^Annals of Loch Ce, I., p. 565; Annals of Clonmac., F. M., III., p. 

606. 



BEUCE IN IRELAND. 21 

ing " neither barn nor town unransacked nor unfrequented place, 
were it never so desert, unsearched and unburnt, and consumed 
to mere ashes the very churches that lay in their way unto the 
bare stones." ^ Bruce arriving safely at Coleraine (Cul-Eathain) 
crossed the Bann and broke down the bridge^ behind him. 
The two armies now spent some time watching each other from 
opposite sides of the river, which at this point is wide and deep, 
and skirmishing from day to day with arrows.' 

During this period of inactivity Bruce managed to commu- 
nicate with Felim O'Conor offering him complete power in 
Conuaught if he would desert the earl and defend his own 
province against the English.* Scarcely had this compact been 
made when Ruaidhri, Felim's rival, appeared on the scene. He 
too had a purpose of his own to serve and having come with a 
few followers, by way of Tir-Conaill, to the camp of the Scots, 
now made an offer which was practically the same as the agree- 
ment which Bruce had entered into with Felim. The Scotch 
leader was thus placed in an embarrassing position but finally 
consented to Ruaidhri making war on the foreigners on condi- 
tion that he did not attack Felim. Ruaidhri disregarded these 
terms and on his return devastated Connaught, burning towns 
and castles, among which were Roscommon, Randoun and Ath- 
lone, "together with all the houses that were in every route 
through which he passed." He even claimed sovereignty over 
MacDiarmada, but could obtain neither pledge nor hostages from 
him. The majority of the Connaught men, however, supported 

^Annals of Clonmac, F. M., III., p. 506. 

« Built in 1248 by the justiciary and his men.— Annals of Ulster, II., p. 
309. 

^Annals of Loch Ce, I., p. 567 ; Annals of Ulster, II., p. 309. 
^Annals of Clonmac, F. M., III., p. 506. 



22 THE iisrvAsiojsr of Ireland. 

him and he was crowned king at Carnfree. In the meantime 
Felim, after explaining to the earl of Ulster that it would be 
necessary for him to return to defend his own claims, also set 
out for Connaught. His adherence to the English had made 
him an object of special hatred to the northern Irish and he 
was so constantly harassed on his march that when he reached 
his own friends, in the neighborhood of Granard, his numbers 
were reduced to such an extent that he gave up, for the time 
being, all hope of regaining his crown and allowed his followers 
to return home and submit to his rival/ 

Richard de Burgh, weakened by the defection of the king of 
Connaught, now decided to fall back toward the episcopal town 
of Connor ^ while Bruce, crossing the Bann higher up by the 
aid of one Thomas Down and his four vessels, concealed his men 
in a wood and succeeded in annoying the English and cutting off 
parties sent out for supplies until they were obliged to retreat to 
the city. On the tenth of September they came out and gave 
battle to the Scots, which, thanks to a ruse of Sir Thomas Mow- 
bray, was a complete victory for the latter.^ The losses on 
both sides were heavy and William de Burgh with some of his 
knights were taken prisoners.* The earl himself escaped and 
did not halt until he reached Connaught where his adherents, 
suffering from the tyranny of Ruaidhri, gathered about him in 
the hope of assistance, among them Felim O'Conor and Mac- 
Diarmada. He could however do nothing for them ; his 
brother William had been captured and his fine army had gone 

' Annak ; Ce and Clonmac, , are the most complete. 

^Annals of Loeh Ce, I., p. 571 ; Annals of Clonmac., F. M., III., p. 507 ; 
Char., etc., 11., p. 346. 

3 Char., etc., II., p. 346 ; Barbour, Bks. XIV. and XV. 

* Annals of Loch Ce, I., p. 571 ; Four Masters, III., p. 505 ; Char., etc., II., 
p. 346 ; Annals of Clonmac, F. M., III., p. 507. 



BEUCE IN IRELAND. 23 

to pieces. Even MacDiarmada was discouraged by the outlook 
and after giving iaostages returned to his own country, while 
the great Richard de Burgh remained for the rest of the year 
" without sway or power in any part of Ireland." ' The Scots 
on gaining possession of Connor found good stores of provi- 
sions, " corn and flour and wax and wine," which Edward trans- 
ferred with his army to Carrickfergus and again took up the 
siege of the citadel. On the fifteenth of September he sent 
the earl of Moray to Scotland with William de Burgh, uncle 
of the Scottish queen, a prisoner, and four ships laden with 
spoils.^ 

The prospects of Edward Bruce were at this time at high- 
water mark ; he was heir-presumptive to the throne of Scotland 
had in all probability already been crowned king of Ireland,^ 
and now received a communication from Gruffydh Llwyd, who 
was leading a rebellion in Wales, offering to support him 
as ruler of that country if he would assist in freeing them from 
the English, and even holding out the prospect that they might 
together expel the Saxons and establish the ancient kingdom of 
Britain.* 

The English government meanwhile had not been alto- 
gether inactive. In June the treasurer at Dublin was ordered 
to cause all money due to the king to be collected so that he 
might have it ready in three weeks from midsummer, to aid in 
maintaining a fleet in Irish waters ; * and a few weeks later 
directions were given that all provisions remaining in the hands 

1 AuTUils of Loch Ce, I., p. 579 ; Annals of Clonmac, F. M., III., 509. 
^ Char., etc., II. , p. 346. 

3 Accounts differ widely as to date of crowning. 

* History of Wales, Caradoc of Lhancarvan. Translated by Powell, pp. 
311-313. 

^ Close RoUs, II., p. 183. 



24 THE INVASION OF lEELAND. 

of the king's purveyors should be delivered at a fixed price to the 
nobles and custodians of castles.^ In September, after the in- 
vasion had assumed a more serious aspect, John de Hothum 
was again sent over clothed with very great powers. He was to 
examine the state of the exchequer and certify to the king what 
debts had been collected and what remained to be collected ; 
he might, with the advice of Butler and others of the council, 
pardon felons, outlaws, and all persons accused of felony or 
trespass, on condition that they serve the king against the 
enemy ; he might also enter into agreements with those who had 
proceeded or were to proceed against the Scots in Ireland, remit 
debts due to the king, and dispose of wardships and marriages ; 
and lastly, he might remove insufficient officers and appoint 
others.^ 

Bruce, after some weeks of effort, finding himself unable to 
take the castle of Carrickfergus and even suffering loss from the 
sallies of the garrison, withdrew, and on the fifth of November, 
near Dundalk, met the earl of Moray who had just landed with 
reinforcements of five hundred men.' Although the king of 
Scotland had not come, as had been hoped for, Edward never- 
theless decided upon a campaign into the heart of the English 
territory. With his army he crossed the Dee near Nobber,* burned 
Kells and Granard, first pillaging the monastery at the latter 
place of all its valuables, and then passing through Finnagh and 

^Historic and Munic. Doc, pp. 327, 328. The date given, 1314, is evi- 
dently a mistake, as the order was issued July 12, when Brv^e was already in 
Ireland. 

^Patent Rolls, II., p. 347; Eymer E. 11. , p. 276. An order of the same 
date provided for calling the magnates to confer with Hothum. — Close 
Bolls, II., p. 308. 

^Ohar., etc., II., p. 347 ; Grace, p. 67. 

*He was deserted here by a number of the inhabitants who had joined him 
at Dundalk. See ref. following. 



BRUCE IX IRELAND. 25 

Newcastle reached Lough-Suedy in West Meath in time to spend 
Christmas there. ^ By the first of January 1316 he was again 
on the move and crossing the northeastern part of the present 
King's County proceeded, by way of Rathangan and Kildare, as 
far south as Castledermot but not, as the native writers say, 
without loss of men. ^ Although Bruce had met with no organ- 
ized opposition and had been able to devastate a large strip of 
the enemy's country, yet he must have been bitterly disappointed 
by the fact that the people did not join him in any considerable 
numbers. The Irish of Wicklow were at this time on the eve 
of a general uprising ^ but there is no proof whatever of any 
inclination to join Bruce, or of any communication with him. 
The failure of the Irish to support him and his already dimin- 
ishing force alarmed him, and turning his face again toward 
the north he passed back through Athy to Sketheris near 
Ardscull, in Kildare, where Edmund Butler, John Fitz-Thomas 
and other nobles had met to cut off his retreat. Any one 
of these could easily have defeated him but they quarreled 
among themselves until finally the justiciary withdrew, illus- 
trating, as the annalist says, the old proverb : " Omne regnum 
in seipsum devisum desolabitur." * In the battle which took 
place with those who remained, on the twenty-sixth of January, 
the English lost Hamon le Grace and William Prendergast 
while on the side of the Scots Fergus of Ardrossan, Walter de 
Moray and many others fell. ^ But Bruce was neither killed 

1 Char., etc., II., p. 347. Grace, p. 67. It would seem from later events 
that this being the country of the Lacies should have been a friendly neighbor- 
hood but Bruce' s treatment does not indicate that he so regarded it. 

^Char., etc., 11. , p. 347. Grace, p. 67. 

^Char., etc., II., p. 348. Grace, p. 69. 

*Char., etc., II., p. 347. 

^Char., etc., II., p. 347. Grace, pp. 67, 69. Clyn, p. 12. 



26 THE IJSITASION OF lEELAND. 

nor captured and, burning the castle of Ley on the way, he con- 
tinued his retreat unmolested until he reached Kells in Meath. 
Here Roger Mortimer had collected an army given as fifteen 
thousand but they do not seem to have been well disposed among 
themselves or faithful to their leader, for through the influence 
of the Lacies so many of them deserted that Mortimer fled to 
Dublin and Walter Cusak took refuge in the castle of Trim 
leaving the country in the hands of the enemy. ^ This Roger 
Mortimer, who was the famous earl of March, was lord of part 
of Meath in right of his wife, daughter and heir of Peter Gene- 
ville, ^ and was endeavoring to defend his lands. As an ab- 
sentee owner he had no personal following among the Irish, and 
the Lacies of West Meath, a collateral branch, were dissatisfied 
at seeing the original grant to Hugh by Henry II. pass out of 
the name through female inheritance. ^ The Scots left masters 
of the town of Kells and the adjoining country remained there 
for some weeks, and even returned south as far as Geashill 
where they spent St. Valentine's day. Fortunately for the 
English army, which lay in the adjoining portions of Kildare, 
it was not necessary to fight, for the ranks of the little com- 
pany of invaders were being constantly thinned by hardship, 
famine, and disease.* The failure of crops the preceding sum- 
mer together with the devastation by all parties, Irish and 
English as well as the Scotch, had caused great scarcity of food, 
suffering, and loss of life. ^ Driven by actual necessity Bruce 

'Grace, p. 69. Qhar., etc., II., p. 348. 
2 Char., etc., II., p. 337. (See also I., p. 375.) 
s Gilbert, Viceroys, p. 133. Char., etc., II., p. 315. 
^Char., etc., II., p. 349. 

5 All the Irish annals of the period give comparatively full accounts of the 
a mine. 



BEUCE IN lEELAND. 27 

and his men finally returned, by way of Fowr, to Ulster and 
again settled down at Carrickfergus. ^ 

The incursions of Bruce and the hostility of the Irish kept the 
English authorities in constant alarm for their own safety. The 
castle of Dublin was repaired and liberally supplied with qua- 
rells, wheat, salt, coal, wine, grease and hides,^ and a sort of 
militia was organized for the maintenance of peace ^ in the out- 
lying districts. The months of January and February 1316 were 
a period of almost continuous uprisings of the natives of Leinster 
— the O'Tooles, O'Byrnes, Archibalds, Harolds, and O'Moors — 
but the justiciary, Edmund Butler, now earl of Carrick,^ at the head 
of the regular troop which had been increased was more successful 
than he had been against the Scots and defeated them in a number 
of engagements, at one time sending eighty heads to Dublin.^ 

Nevertheless this was a time at which the outlook for the 
government seemed very gloomy indeed; the success and influ- 
ence of the Scots appeared to be great and their own weakness 
and lack of union had been painfully evident in the quarrel and 
defeat at Sketheris, and the defection of the Lacies at Kells. 
Early in February ten of the principal nobles met at Dublin 
and, in the presence of Hothum, signed a compact in which, 
after statins; that the Scotch had drawn to themselves all of the 
Irish, many of the English, and even a number of the lords, 

' Char., etc., II., p. 349 ; Grace, pp. 69, 71. With the exception of the castle 
of Carrickfergus the Scots may be said to have held Ulster (Ulahd). In ac- 
cordance with an order of the king the previous October an effort had been 
made to send supplies from Dublin for the earl of Ulster's castles but the ves- 
sels were driven by stress of weather upon the coast of England where their 
cargoes had to be discharged. — Hist. & Munic. Doc, pp. 334, 335, 340, 343. 

' His. and Munic. Doc. , pp. 337, 339, 340. 

'^Ibid., pp. 372, 376, 377. 

* Lynch, Legal Institutions, etc., p. 178. 

5 Char., etc., II., pp. 348, 349. 



28 THE INVASION OF IRELAND. 

they undertook, having regard they said to their allegiance and 
loyalty and mindful of the great damages they had sustained 
in loss of men, lands and castles, to maintain the rights of 
Edward II. against all men and that their bodies, lands, and 
chattels should be forfeited if they failed in their loyalty. As 
security they promised to give the king hostages who were to 
be lodged in Dublin castle or elsewhere, provided they were 
well guarded and suitably maintained at the king's cost.^ In 
the list of signatures to this document the name of John Fitz- 
Thomas, lord of Offaly, stands first and on May fourteenth the 
king created him earl of Kildare.^ Richard de Burgh was 
not one of the signers but there can be no doubt that he con- 
tinued to enjoy the confidence of the king. The uncertainty 
felt in England as to the attitude of the English in Ireland is 
shown by various efforts to gain their good will and adherence ; 
letters of thanks,^ conferring of titles, and especially material 
favors. For instance on the eighth of January when the Scots 
had penetrated southward as far as Kildare, John de Athy, a 
knight and a former sheriff of Limerick and Kerry, was offered 
respite from an exchequer claim if he would join the army of 
the justiciary.* John, son of Peter le Poer, was reimbursed for 
his loss in horses, armor and other goods, incurred in defending 
Ireland against the Scots, in the sum of five hundred marks to 
be paid out of the issues of the archbishopric of Cashel.^ And 
the mayor and commonality of Dublin were pardoned £60 a 
year for four years, out of the farm of the city, on account of 

1 Close Bolls, IT., p. 333 ; Eymer, E. II., p. 283 ; Gilbert, Viceroys, p. 527, 
note. 

* Lynch, Legal Institutions, etc., p. 178 ; Lodge, Peerage, I., 78. 
3 Eymer, E. IL, p. 276. 

* Historic and Munic. Doc. , p. 373. 
5 Close Rolls, IL, p. 291. 



BRUCE IN IRELAND. 29 

having been much burdened by the frequent passing of men-at- 
arms and the partial destruction of the suburbs.^ 

By the opening of spring, the Irish having been defeated and 
Dublin put in a state of defense, the government was able to 
look toward aggressive movements in the north. The dep- 
redations of Scottish vessels had been extensive and un- 
checked, the policy of the English government so far being 
very ineffectual.^ Orders were now issued for the arrest of all 
ships entering the ports of Ireland, and none were to be allowed 
to leave without the King's permission.^ In May the fleet, 
which had been provisioned at Drogheda, was sent north to 
cruise among the islands and if possible apprehend Thomas 
Don,^ the " scummar of the seas," who had rendered such good 
service to Bruce in crossing the Bann. The commander of the 
fleet was John de Ergadia who in 1315 had regained the Isle 
of Man, and taken a number of prisoners on the coast of Scot- 
land itself.^ About the same time the city of Drogheda and 
the sheriff of Uriel were ordered to provide supplies^ for an ex- 
pedition by land against Bruce under Thomas de Mandeville, 
lord of the territory about Carrickfergus. After reinforcing 
the garrison with men and provisions they attacked the Scots 
from this point, killing several, but in a second skirmish near 
Easter time, which according to Barbour was in violation of a 
truce, Lord Thomas was himself slain.^ 

^Patent Bolls, II., p. 471 ; Historic and Munic. Doc, pp. 392, 393 ; Calendar 
of Aoicient Records of Dublin, I., p. 11. 

« Rotuli Scotice, I., pp. 121, 151. John of Lorn was nominally in the English 
service under the title of Admiral of the Western Fleet. 

" Historic and Munic. Doc. , pp. 374, 375. 

^Ihid., p. 377. 

« Close Rolls, II., p. 153 ; Botidi Scotia^, I., p. 138. 

^Historic aiul Munic. Doc, pp. 350-352. 

' Char., etc, II., p. 350 ; Barbour, Bk. XV. 



30 THE INVASION OF IRELAND. 

Toward the close of May another general uprising of the 
natives began simultaneously in several directions from Dublin/ 
and so alarmed the people of the Pale that they could think of 
nothing but their own safety. The extent of this alarm is shown 
in the command to the treasurer that in accordance with a previous 
ordinance of the king's council he must reside in the castle with the 
treasure and the papers belonging to his oiEfice, for safe keeping ; 
and he must allow no others to dwell there except his own house- 
hold and those appointed by him.^ Later, in accordance with the 
wish of the population, a standing force consisting of twenty 
men-at-arms, forty hobellers, and eighty footmen, was organ- 
ized under William Comyn for the protection of Leinster. For 
their support each carucate of land in Fingal, religious as well 
as lay, in liberties and out, had to pay two shillings, while for 
the rest of the province the assessment was forty pence.^ To 
protect the route to Ulster and facilitate communication between 
the towns, the tenants of Crumlin were obliged to erect a fort- 
alice, and the sheriff of Uriel was given power to distrain men 
for military service and to cut the pass of Donaughmayne and 
another near Louth.* 

■ ' Richard Birmingham defeated the Irish of Munster ; the men of Wick- 
low, trying to invade the coasts of Tullagh, were driven back ; William 
Comyn, justice of the peace, and his force killed a chief of the O' Byrnes, and 
the men of Dundalk killed about two hundred of the O'Hanlons. — Char., etc., 
II., p. 350. 

^ Close Bolls, II., p. 293. 

^Historic and Munic. Doc, pp. 380-382. Among the provisions for main- 
taining the necessary military forces there is an interesting requirement made 
from the sheriffs of Dublin and Meath, the stewards of Wexford and Carlow, 
the custodian of the temporalities of the archbishopric of Dublin, and the 
steward of the liberty of Trim, to provide cows for the use of the king's army 
in Leinster, varying in number from one hundred down to twenty. — Hist. 
and Munic. Doc, pp. 355-358 (July-Sept., 1316). 

* Historic and Munic. Doc, p. 378. The difficulty of pursuing the Irish 
waa greatly increased by the trees and underwood, even the king's highways 
were often allowed to become almost impassable. Grace, p. 90, note x. 



BRUCE IN IRELAND. 31 

The conditions in Ireland at this time were bad in the ex- 
treme. As we have seen not many parts of the land were ac- 
customed to law and order at the best of times, but now the 
presence of Bruce, the powerlessness of the de Burghs, and, added 
to the ordinary devastations of war, the failure of crops, caused 
a great increase in personal lawlessness. Even the members of 
a parliament are recorded as doing nothing except spoil the 
country on their way home,^ and the Hilary term of court in 
1316 had to be postponed because the suitors could not reach 
Dublin without risking their lives.^ The people finally appealed 
to the king, complaining that the justices had been in the habit 
of permitting persons indicted for felonies to be redeemed for 
small ransoms, and sometimes for nothing, by reason of which 
malefactors had been encouraged to such an extent that agricul- 
ture and trade had fallen away in many places ; that neither 
English nor Irish criminals feared to commit such crimes, be- 
cause faithful subjects dare not indict them, nor say the truth 
concerning them in judgment, lest they should be slain or de- 
stroyed ; and that the people who desired to live under the 
king's peace and law were compelled to desert the places where 
they had been accustomed to dwell. To remedy these evils they 
asked that a parliament should be held in Ireland yearly ; that 
pardon for the death of an Englishman or for arson should 
be made only in parliament with the consent of the king's 
council, for not less than £100 ; and that for petty larceny or 
robbery a fourfold ransom should be taken.' On the eighth of 
August the king, in reply to the above petition, ordered that the 
archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons and communi- 

1 Char., etc., II., p. 349. 

2 Gilbert, Viceroys, pp. 526, 517, notes. 

3 Close Rolls, II., pp. 358, 359. 



32 THE INVASION OF IRELAND. 

ties of Ireland should be convoked as soon as possible to give 
their counsel and advice concerning the administration of the law ; 
and if they could not agree, then the justiciary was to ask sep- 
arately, by the king's writ, for the opinion of the prelates and 
magistrates, if they could not conveniently assemble.^ Here, 
however, the matter appears to have ended. 

On the tenth of this same month of August, 1316, the battle 
of Athenry in Connaught indisputably established the power of 
the English party in the west. The native struggle had at last 
ended in the destruction of the leaders of both parties.^ The 
sovereignty of Ruaidhri which could be maintained only by 
force was not long respected, and Felim O' Conor, placing him- 
self at the head of the disaffected and again supported by his 
foster-father, MacDiarmada, soon became a formidable rival. 
This civil war which was so unfortunate for the interests of 
Edward Bruce, was terrible even for Ireland ; women and chil- 
dren were robbed and killed ; flocks, cattle and crops uselessly 
destroyed, and even " the cloths from off the altars were given 
as wages to gallow-glasses and mercenaries." By uniting with 
the English Felim had been able, in a pitched battle on the 
seventh of March,^ to completely defeat Ruaidhri and his fol- 
lowers and again assume the crown. He now prepared to carry 
out his promise to Bruce, and in the first engagement a number 
of prominent Englishmen were killed* after which their terri- 
tory, both church and lay, was overrun and spoiled. Becoming 
alarmed at the return of William de Burgh, who had left his 

1 Close Bolls, II., pp. 378, 379 ; Eymer, E., II., p. 294. 

^Annals of Clonmac., Ce, Ulster, Four Masters, etc. 

^Annals of Loch Ce, I., pp. 581, 583 ; Annals of Clonmac, F. M., III., pp. 
510, 511. 

* Annals of Loch Ce, I., p. 585; Annals of Ulster, II., p. 427; Annals of 
Clonmac.," F. M., III., pp. 510, 511. 



BRUCE IN IRELAND. 33 

son a hostage in Scotland/ he mustered a great army at Athenry, 
but in the battle which followed he himself fell and " there was 
not slain in this time in Ireland the amount that was slain there 
of sons of kings, and chiefs, and of many other persons in addi- 
tion." ^ Felim O' Conor was but twenty-three years of age 
and " the Irish had expected more from him than any other 
Gael then living."^ 

Bruce, after his return from the south, sent the earl of Moray 
a second time to obtain assistance from his brother and then 
settled down to rule over Ulster.* Of this period we have very 
little information. In his court a number of captives were con- 
demned to death among whom were some of the Logans, while 
Lord Alan Fitz-Warren, a more important prisoner, was sent to 
Scotland.^ The garrison of the castle of Carrickfergus, having 
received supplies in the spring as before mentioned through the 
efforts of Mandeville, was able to hold out during the summer, 
and when at last driven by hunger to surrender they were 
granted security from personal injury.*' Eight ships which had 
been sent from Drogheda in July for their relief had been 
stopped by the earl of Ulster ^ who seems to have been dissat- 
isfied with the slow progress of arrangements for the liberation 
of his brother William. This incident may have been one of 
the reasons why he was later suspected, by some, of not being 
altogether true to the English cause, although within a week from 
this time he is reported to have met with the earl of Kildare 

1 Char., etc., II., p. 352 ; Annals of Loch Cc, I., p. 586. 

^Annals of Ulster, II., p. 429. 

3 Annals of Loch Ce, I., p. 587 ; Four Masters, III., pp. 511, 513, 515. 

* Char., etc., II., p. 349. 

^Ibid. 

^Char., etc., II., p. 297. 

Tlbid., p. 296. 



34 THE INVASION OF lEELAND. 

and other nobles at Dublin and there taken oath^ to sup- 
port the peace of Ireland. The treatment of the church in 
Ulster is difficult to understand for whatever religious estab- 
lishments were opposed to the Scots were likely to have been 
so from the beginning, but they seem to have been unmolested 
until the summer of 1316 when a number of monasteries, in- 
cluding those of St. Patrick at Down,^ and Saul, were plun- 
dered and destroyed, and the church of Bright filled with per- 
sons of both sexes was burned.^ 

On the third of October the king of England gave power to 
Walter de Islep, treasurer, and Richard Tuit to bind him in 
the sum of £100 for any deed committed against Edward Bruce 
by which he might lose life or limb.* On account of this offer 
perhaps, or because the fortunes of the Scots seemed to be on 
the wane, some of the northern English under John Logan and 
Hugh Bisset took the field against them, killed three hundred 
and later sent Alan Steward and John Sandale prisoners to 
Dublin.^ 

In November the king decided to send Roger Mortimer to 
Ireland, and to place practically the whole government and 
direction of affairs in his hands.^ He was accordingly made 
justiciary, and king's lieutenant, and all the powers formerly 
granted to John de Hothum were now given to him abso- 
lutely, whereas the former had been restricted by the ne- 
cessity of conferring with the justiciary and council. In 

^Char., etc., II., p. 296. 

2 Benedictines brought in by John de Courci. Archdall, Monastieon Hiber- 
nicum, I., pp. 247, 253. 
^Char., etc., II., p. 352. 
^Patent Bolls, II., p. 551. 
^Ohar., etc., II., p. 298. 
6 Patent Bolls, II., pp. 563, 564. 



BRUCE IN IRELAND. 35 

addition he might sell or grant lands which by reason of the 
war had fallen or should fall into the hands of the king, and 
he could grant to Irishmen the use of English law as might 
seem best to him for the expediting of affairs against the Scots 
and rebels.^ The significance of this last power, and the 
inducement thus offered to the Irish to support the Eng- 
lish, can be appreciated only in the light of the most striking 
facts in the history of the introduction of English law into Ire- 
land. 

Whatever may have been the intentions of the council at 
Lismore f whether or not the natives were included in John's 
plans for the establishment of English laws and customs ; ^ and 
whatever may have been the original scope of the charter of 
liberties granted by Henry III. in 1216,'' there can be no doubt 
as to the later interpretations. The weakness of the govern- 
ment at Dublin and the isolation and independence of the 
barons naturally led to many irregularities in the courts, and 
so during the thirteenth century, especially in the reign of 
Henry III., we find numerous orders from the king for the 
correction of these abuses, and stating emphatically that his 
subjects in Ireland were to be governed by the same laws and 
customs as were observed in England.^ But who were the 
king's subjects ? Only those of English blood and the Irish to 
whom the use of English law had been granted. Of the latter 

1 Grace, p. 83, 84, note i. Butler thinks the exercise of this power may have 
been one of the reasons why the English in Ireland did not more fully cooperate 
with him. 

^Matt. Paris, Historia Anghrum, I., p. 371; Wendover, I., p. 90. 

^Davies, p. 260. 

*Hist. and Munic. Doc, pp. 65-72 (Magna Charta for Ireland); Leland, I., 
App. I. ( Given in full. ) 

5 Calendars, Ireland, 5 vols., 1171-1307, 2 2850 ; in Vol. I (1171-1251) is a 
good illustration. 



36 THE INVASION OF IRELAND. 

there were those kno^vn as the "Five Bloods"^ — the royal 
families of the five native kingdoms — and a few individuals who 
had received charters of denization. The rest of the native 
population were aliens and their laws and customs are fre- 
quently alluded to as quite separate and apart from those of 
the English residents.^ The fact that they were not admitted 
to equality before the law is set forth in the petition to John 
XXII. as one of their most just grievances ; a statement well 
supported by the records of various cases.^ In 1253 the king 
gave the justiciary power to grant to two brothers who had 
sworn that they and their ancestors, though Irish, were always 
faithful in their fealty and service, the privilege of selling their 
lands as if they were Englishmen ; * but the custom of granting 
charters of denization to individuals did not begin until a 
quarter of a century later. In 1277 the Irish offered Edward 
I. seven hundred marks for a grant of the English common 
law.^ In his reply to the justiciary the king said it seemed 
meet to him and his council that it should be done, because the 
laws in use were so detestable to God and so contrary to all 
law that they ought not to be deemed such ; but that the com- 
mon consent of the people or at least of the well-affected pre- 
lates and magnates of Ireland must first regularly intervene, 

iQ'Neil de Ultonia, O'Molaghlin de Midia, O'Connoghor de Connacia, 
O'Brien de Thotmonia, et MacMurrogh de Legenia. Davies, p. 262. (Plea 
Rolls in Bremingham's Tower, 3 Ed., II.) Only the O'Briens had their lands 
secured by charter, but they were all considered the king' s men and had the 
privilege of suing in the king's courts. — Richey, Short Hist, of Irish People, 
p. 174 ; Davies, p. 223. 

2 Calendar, Vol. 1171-1251, U 1081, 505, 1763, 2916 ; Vol. 1252-1284, §§ 
220, 1115, 1474, etc. The existence of a native people who were not subjects 
was never recognized by the English parliament until 1331. 

3 Richey, p. 176 ; Davies, pp. 261, 262. 
^ Calendar, Vol. 1252-1284, I 164. 
^Ibid., §1400. 



BEUCE IN IRELAND. 37 

and that they were to be called to a conference. He then made 
two stipulations ; that a higher fine in money should be re- 
quired and a certain number of good and valiant foot-soldiers 
should be sent to serve, for once only, in the king's army.^ 
In a separate communication to the English of Ireland the 
king expressed himself as unwilling to comply with the request 
of the native population without their consent, and asked them 
diligently to debate whether or not, without prejudice to them- 
selves, their liberties and customs, this concession could be 
made.* The general concession was not made, but soon after, in 
1281, the first individual patent was issued, in which, by grant 
of special grace, Gregory Olidek was to be allowed during good 
behavior to use and enjoy the same liberties and customs in Ire- 
land as the English of that country.^ During the seven years 
from 1285 to 1292 twenty-nine people received such patents,* 
extending in a few cases to their children. Four of the above 
were women, and two were Englishmen who had proven them- 
selves such, and in the latter case the charter included all their 
family. One Irish woman, who in 1289 asked for the benefit 
of English law in order that she might have a share of her 
English husband's property after his death, which was not 
otherwise allowed,^ was told to wait and see if she survived 
him.^ After 1292 there was a decided reaction against the ex- 
tension of the coveted privilege and to this period probably be- 
longs an undated petition from Hugh Kent, liege burgess of 
Galway, praying for letters patent to enable him and his 

1 Calendar, Vol. 1252-1284, § 1408. 

^Ibid., § 1681 (June 10, 1280) ; Eymer, R. I., p. 582. 

^Ihid., I nib. 

* Calendar, Vol. 1285-1292. 

^ Petition to Pope John. 

6 Calendar, Vol. 1285-1292, ^ 558. 



38 THE INVASION OF IRELAND. 

children, in life and death, to use the English law saying that 
the free extension of such right to all who demanded it would 
be to the king's advantage, as had been shown him by his 
parliament at London and by his council.^ From 1292 until 
this power was put into the hands of Mortimer, sixteen persons 
received patents extending in three cases to heirs.^ Only two 
had been issued since the landing of Bruce and both of those 
bear the date of May 16, 1316.^ 

The internal troubles in England and the war in Ireland had 
left Scotland in comparative safety, and by the close of 1316 
Robert Bruce was able to comply with the urgent request of his 
brother. Accompanied by the earl of Moray and a consider- 
able number of soldiers he crossed to Carrickfergus,* about 
Christmas time,^ where he was received with great rejoicing and 
festivity, and preparations were made for another invasion of the 
Pale. In the middle of February the Scots appeared unex- 
pectedly at Slane, in Meath, and soon afterwards penetrated to 
within a few miles of Dublin, but here they received news which 
led them to turn aside and capture Castleknock instead of at- 
tacking the city.® A few days before the earl of Ulster, who 
with some of his household was staying at St. Mary's Abbey, 
had been arrested by the mayor and citizens and taken to the 
castle for safe keeping, the room in which he was captured hav- 
ing been burned and seven of his followers killed in the fray.^ 
The reason for this arrest can only be conjectured, but there are 

1 GaltTidar, Vol. 1285-1292, § 1174. 

2 Calendar, Vols. 1285-1292, 1293-1301 ; Eymer ; Patent Bolls, I. and II. 

3 Patent Bolls, II., p. 463. 
* Barbour, Bk. XVI. 
sClyn, p. 12. 

^Ghar., etc., 11. , p. 352. 

''Char., etc., II., pp. 352, 299. It is strange that there is no reference in 
the chartularies of the abbey to this arrest. — Char., etc., I., preface, p. xl. 



BRUCE IN IRELAND. 39 

two things which may have led to such action : in the first 
place, the earl, who was father-in-law to the king of Scotland, 
was doubtless suspected by some of sympathy with their cause ; 
and secondly he was, as it proved, a valuable hostage for it 
was no doubt fear for his life that prevented the Scots from 
making an immediate attack. On the night after Bruce's ap- 
pearance the church of St. Saviour was torn down and the 
stones used to extend the city walls, while all of the suburbs, 
including the district of St. Thomas, were burned, with the 
consent of the citizens. This fire accidentally destroyed the 
church of St. John and the campanile of St. Mary Magda- 
lene.* The next day upon learning that the city had been 
put in a state of defense the Scots withdrew to Leixlip, and 
after camping there for four days proceeded throught the coun- 
try, under the guidance of one Wadin White, as far as Naas. 
During the two days they remained here they plundered the 
town and churches, stole and broke open coffers, and even 
desecrated the graves in the cemetery in the hope of find- 
ing treasure. From Naas they passed through Castledermot, 
carrying off the books, vestments and other valuables of the 
Friars Minor, to Gowran and thence, shunning Kilkenny, to 
Callan, which they reached about the twelfth of March.^ On 
invitation of a chief of the O'Briens of Thomond, Bruce and 
his men went west to Castle Connell, on the Shannon near 
Limerick, but being opposed by the other faction of the 
O'Briens' and alarmed by an Anglo-Irish force which collected 
at Ledin, a hill near by, they secretly withdrew and returned to 
Kells, in Ossory. The English army under Edmund Butler 

' Char., etc., II., pp. 299, 353. 

Ubid., pp. 299, 300, 353. 

3 Grace, p. 83 ; note e {Annals of Innisfallen). 



40 THE INVASION OF IRELAND. 

and other nobles, even after liberally discounting the numbers 
given, thirty thousand, must have been greatly superior to 
that of the Scots, yet they did not try to attack them. Bruce, 
never halting long in one place, retreated to Cashel and then 
to Nanagh, burning and wasting the land of the justiciary. 
Early in April Mortimer landed at Youghal with one hun- 
dred and fifty horsemen and five hundred footmen,^ and sending 
word to Butler that nothing was to be done until he arrived, set 
out to join the army. The Scots warned of this new danger, 
retreated in the night toward Kildare, while the English, after 
sending the Ulstermen^ to Naas, repaired to Kilkenny where 
with Mortimer they discussed plans for the future.^ Toward 
the close of April Bruce, still journeying northward, halted for a 
week in a wood near Trim to refresh his men who were perishing 
from hunger and fatigue and where a number of them died. On 
the first of May he again reached Ulster with the remnant of his 
army, and the king of Scotland returned to his own country.^ 

It was in the spring of this year, 1317, in connection with 
the efibrts of the Pope to make peace, or at least establish a 
truce ^ between Edward II. and Robert Bruce, that the church 

1 Close Rolls, II., p. 382; Patent Rolls, II., p. 574. The king commanded 
fifteen of the absentee lords of Ireland to either go in person with Mortimer or 
send men-at-arms according to their lands. — Kymer, E. II., p. 409 ; Close 
Rolls, II.; pp. 450, 451. 

2 These men, who were simply spoken of as Ulstermen, were evidently Irish. 
Two thousand of them had come to the English army seeking aid against the 
Scots and had been put under the earl of Kildare. — Char., II., p. 300. 

^Char., etc., II., p. 301. 

*Char., etc., p. 302; Grace, p. 87; Barbour, Bk. XVI. The king of 
England expressed his thanks by letter to forty -two of the principal barons, 
the officers of eight towns, and the prior of St. John of Jerusalem in Ire- 
land. Hugh and Walter Lacy were of the number. — Eymer, R. II., p. 327 ; 
Cbse Rolls, II., pp. 464, 465. 

5 Eymer, III., p. 594; Calendar, Papal Reg.; Papal Letters, 11. , pp. 127 
129. 



BRUCE IN lEELAXD. 41 

began to take an active part in Irish affairs. The influence of 
the clergy and monastic orders had probably been more im- 
portant from the beginning of the invasion than is apparent 
from the records, for the line between the native and the Anglo- 
Irish ecclesiastical interests had even at this time been quite 
clearly drawn. The destruction and appropriation of church 
property incident to conquest, the appointment of Englishmen 
to the most lucrative positions, differences of race, and finally 
their inability to even understand each other on account of dif- 
ferent languages had caused the church, though without dif- 
ference of creed, to fall into two hostile factions. As early as 
1206^ we find the successor of St. Patrick going to the king 
on behalf of the churches of Ireland to enter complaint against 
the encroachment of the English, but his appeal was disre- 
garded. Henry III. on his accession to power gave distinct 
orders that, as the peace had been frequently disturbed by elec- 
tions of Irishmen, in the future no one of them was to be 
elected or promoted in any cathedral.^ As early as the middle 
of the thirteenth century this feeling of animosity had entered 
even the monasteries and the Irish began to exclude the English. 
This custom, which later became common on both sides, was 
hard to controP however much condemned by Popes and heads of 
orders. During the first half of the Scottish invasion there was 
very little complaint of the religious establishments or of effort to 
influence affairs through them, a fact which may have been partly 

» Four Masters, III., p. 149. 

2 Calendar, Vol. 1171-1251, pp. 736, 739. By counsel of the archbishop 
of Dublin it was ordered that clerics and other honest English useful to the 
king and his kingdom should be elected and promoted to sees and dignities 
when vacant. — Ibid., 737. 

»Rymer, R. I., p. 274 ; Grace, pp. 12, 13 ; note d ; Petition to Pope John ; 
Close Rolls, III., p. 404. 



42 THE INVASION OF IRELAND. 

due to the papal vacancy. The Irish friars, certain of whom 
had been arrested as vagabonds in 1309/ were the first to fall 
under suspicion and in September 1315 the king asked the 
justiciary to inform himself concerning those who were staying 
among the English in cities and towns, whereby danger might 
arise, and advise as to what should be done.^ About a year 
later the general of the friars minor was requested to correct 
their misconduct,^ but there is no indication of any serious trouble. 
When the cardinals Gaucelin and Luke arrived in England to 
promulgate a truce between that country and Scotland, they 
came armed with the power of excommunication and interdict 
to be used at their discretion in carrying out their mission.* 
At the same time the archbishops of Dublin and Cashel, and 
the dean of Dublin, were commissioned to warn the friars, 
preachers and other religious mendicants, together with the 
rectors, vicars and chaplains of parish churches to desist from 
stirring up the people to resist the king's authority ; ^ and the 
sentence of excommunication against those who invaded Ire- 
land or in any way assisted them was to be published through- 
out the country, especially in the seaports.^ The pope also 
addressed personal letters to eight of the leading nobles including 
the earls of Ulster, Kildare, and Carrick, and Richard de Clare, 
enjoining them to watch over and promote the peace of the 
king and the realm.^ 

^Eymer, II., p. 86; Patent Bolls, L, p. 182. 
^ Close Bolls, II., p. 307. 
sEymer, II., p. 295. 

* Cal., Papal Beg. , Papal Letters, II. , p. 431 ; Eymer, E. II. , p. 317 ; 
Theiner, Vetera Monumenta Hibernorum et Scotorum, 202. 

* Cal., Papal Beg., Papal Letters, ii., pp. 138, 139 ; Eymer, E. ii., p. 325 ; 
Theiner, 194. 

^Ccd., Papal Beg., Papal Letters, IT., p. 417. 

'' Ibid. , pp. 415, 438. In August the king ordered an investigation of the 



BRUCE IN IRELAND. 43 

The imprisonment of the earl of Ulster by the city authori- 
ties of Dublin added to the complication of affairs during the 
first half of the year 1317. The king, who throughout appears 
to have held him in high regard and to have been anxious to 
keep his good will, upon hearing of his arrest requested the 
justiciary, the earl of Kildare and other nobles to procure his 
liberation on the king's security ^; but the barons apparently 
were not anxious for his release, and the authorities of Dublin 
had no intention of giving up so valuable a hostage and so 
formidable an enemy until they had secured terms for their own 
future safety. They accordingly sent, early in April, two mes- 
sengers to confer with the king on the state of Ireland and the 
liberation of the earl.^ The result of this mission as well as 
the discord between the city and the barons is apparent from 
an order issued, soon afterward, to Mortimer, that the men of 
Dublin were not to be aggrieved on account of the arrest of 
Richard de Burgh and other members of his family, and that 
the king had reserved to himself all matters touching the arrest 
lest trouble might arise on this account.^ Later he sent several 
requests for full information and proposed, if it were thought 
best for the peace of the country, that the earl should be sent 
under safe custody to England.* Early in May, after the re- 
treat of Bruce to Ulster, Mortimer held a parliament of the 
magnates and thirty knights, at Kilmainham, at which nothing 

report that the bishop of Ferns had aided the Bruces with counsel and sup- 
plies but no record of the result has been found. Close Rolls, II., p. 561 ; 
Rymer, E. II., p. 339. 

iCAar., ete., IL, p. 300. 

^Ibid., p. 301. 

^ Close Rolls, II., p. 404 ; Historic and 3Iunic. Doc, p. 398 ; Rymer, II., p. 
327. 

* Close Rolls, II., pp. 404, 405, 469. 



44 THE INVASION OF IRELAND. 

definite was done ;^ but at a second meeting in Dublin, a few 
days later, the earl was released on condition of his giving bail 
and hostages, and taking an oath that he would never on ac- 
count of his capture, through himself or his people, cause any- 
trouble or damage to the citizens of Dublin, but that he would 
obtain satisfaction by due process of law ; he was accordingly 
given until the twenty-fourth of June to bring suit.^ In the 
meantime, June seventh, the king sent word to Mortimer to 
hold the coming parliament at some place outside of Dublin as 
he feared trouble might arise if the nobles entered the city with 
their followers ; he further ordered that no assemblies were to 
be held in Dublin and the nobles were not to house their men 
there against the will of the community.^ As the earl did not 
bring suit within the time fixed he was granted full freedom, 
on account of his former services against the Irish and Scots 
and on taking oath and giving security as required by law/ 

By the beginning of the summer season conditions were better 
for the English, and the outlook for an invasion of the north 
and the reestablishment of English authority was more prom- 
ising than at any time since the landing of the Scots. Bruce's 
army was small and suffering from lack of supplies ; the Irish 
of Leinster and Munster had not joined him even when they 
had the opportunity of doing so ; since the death of Felim 
O' Conor there was no prospect of any assistance from Con- 
naught, and even some of the Ulstermen had become dissatisfied 
with his rule. On the other hand, the English were more 
united than heretofore and the entire direction of military 

^Char., etc., II., p. 302. 

* Char., etc., II., p. 354 ; Grace, p. 88, note q. 
^ Close Bolls, II., p. 476. 

* Char., etc., II., p. 355. 



BEUCE IN lEELAND. 45 

operations had been put into the hands of one commander. 
The fleet which had transported Mortimer and his men across 
to Youghal had been sent north and its captain, John de Athy, 
empowered to receive into the king's peace the inhabitants of 
Ulster who wished to return to their allegiance.^ But at this 
point the interests of the government were doubtless again sacri- 
ficed to the desire for personal revenge. Toward the close of 
May Mortimer went north into Meath and from the castle of 
Trim cited the Lacies, by letter, to appear before him, which they 
refused to do.^ The Lacies had fallen, almost in the beginning, 
under suspicion of sympathy with the Scots, and after the com- 
pact of the nobles in February 1316, to which they were not 
parties, Walter came to Dublin to deny the charge of dis- 
loyalty and offer hostages as the others had done.^ Alarmed 
further by the coming of their enemy, de Mortimer, as the 
king's lieutenant, and the preparations to crush Bruce, they 
both appeared in Dublin the next winter and asked for an 
investigation of the charges against them.^ In the trial which 
was held by the justiciary, Edmund Butler, they were acquitted 
by twenty-five jurors, and upon payment of two hundred 
pounds were admitted to the king's peace.^ Notwithstanding 
this they shortly afterwards gave aid and comfort so openly 
to Eobert and Edward Bruce while in the south that they 
now refused to appear and killed Mortimer's messenger,^ Hugh 

^Patent Rolls, II., pp. 632, 636. On the second of July he fell in with 
Thomas Don or Down and took him with about forty of his men. — Char., etc., 
II., p. 355 ; Grace, p. 89. 

»C/tar., etc., 11. , p. 354, 355. 

^Ibid., p. 349. 

*Ibid., p. 298. 

^Ibid., Appendix II. Documents relating to Bruces in Ireland. 

^Ibid., p. 355. 



46 THE INVASION OF IRELAND. 

de Crofts, who was sent to treat with them. Mortimer then 
proceeded against them with his army, and after defeating them 
and taking their cattle and goods he drove them into Con- 
naught with the exception perhaps of Walter who is reported 
to have fled to Ulster to seek aid of Bruce,^ and it is true that 
several of the family were with the Scots in their last campaign 
the following year. Later, Mortimer in conjunction with the 
king's council declared the Lacies, with a number of their ad- 
herents, traitors, and confiscated their property on the ground 
that they had fought against the king's troops.^ The army re- 
turned to Dublin by way of Drogheda,^ but without stopping long 
at the latter place, for the king had issued orders that none of 
the soldiers were to be housed in that city, nor any food to be 
taken away against the will of its citizens.* 

Although Mortimer made no effort to drive the Scots out of 
Ulster and thus end the war, he was very active and efficient 
in his endeavors to strengthen the government and preserve 
order. Several of the tribes southeast of Dublin were induced 
to make peace, the earl of Kildare going security for the Arch- 
bolds. In a campaign against the O'Ferals he burned out a 
dangerous pass and compelled them to come to terms and give 
hostages.^ He did not interfere, however, in a civil war in 

^ Char., etc., II., p. 355 ; Grace, p. 87 ; Clyn, p. 13, "ejeeit omnes de nacione 
et cognominede Lacy ex Hybernia." John Lacy, who fell into the hands of the 
English, was sentenced to be confined in prison on short diet until he died. — 
Ghar., etc., II., p. 358. 

^Char., etc., II., p. 356. Appendix II. 

^lUd., p. 356. 

* Close Rolls, Ed. II., p. 476. The burden of the war had fallen heavily 
upon Drogheda, and in March 1317 the king granted to its citizens the privi- 
lege of trading, under certain restrictions, with England and Wales, notwith- 
standing the general prohibition aginst taking food supplies, etc., out of 
Ireland.— CZose Bolls, II., p. 396. 

5 Qmr., etc., II., pp. 356, 357; Grace, p. 91. 



BEUCE IN IRELAND. 47 

Connaught, although it was of most destructive character and 
was probably caused by a grant of some lands to one of the 
O'Conors, ^ for it was the general policy of the English to let 
the Irish fight unmolested so long as they did not interfere with 
the interests of the ruling race.^ By the middle of February 
1318 the country was in such a state of quiet that Mortimer 
was able to return to Dublin where he held a great festival at 
the castle and knighted John Mortimer and some of his asso- 
ciates, among whom was John Bermingham.^ The citizens of 
Dublin had been put in a good humor by a series of favors from 
the king. He had pardoned them for having levied tolls 
without his license ; remitted £600 of debt on account of their 
expenditures on the defenses of the city ; * and released them from 
the liability of being impleaded according to the common law 
for having destroyed the suburbs and taken food supplies, until 
such time as an ordinance should be made concerning it, pro- 
vided the articles so taken were restored or their value paid.^ 

On the tenth of May a conflict in the west, between the 
O'Briens and McCartys on the one side and the English on the 
other, resulted in the death of Richard de Clare and several 
other prominent men,^ but Mortimer being under orders to re- 
turn to the king ^ took no steps in the matter, and having ap- 
pointed William Fitz-John, archbishop of Cashel locum tenens^ 

1 Char., etc., II., p. 357 ; Grace, p. 90, note z. 

2 Gilbert, Viceroys, p. 109. 

sClyn., p. 135 ; Char., etc., II., p. 357 ; Grace, p. 91. 

* Historic and Munic. Doc, pp. 402-404. Cal. of Ancient Records of Dub., I., 
p. 12, U XXV., XXVL, XXVII. 

5 Ghse Rolls, Ed. II., pp. 574, 575. 

«Clyn., p. 13 ; Char., etc., II., p. 358. 

' Close Rolls, II., p. 561. 

8 Char., etc., II., p. 358. This united in one person the offices of justic- 
iary, chancellor and archbishop. 



48 THE INVASION OF IRELAND. 

he sailed for England in June, leaving debts in Dublin to the 
amount of one thousand pounds.^ 

Early in the year 1318, when Mortimer was so successful in 
establishing peace and order in the east and south and Bruce 
was ruling undisturbed in the north, a petition was sent to the 
Pope from "Donald O'Neyl, King of Ulster, and rightful 
hereditary successor to the throne of all Ireland, as well as 
the princes and nobles of the same realm, with the Irish peo- 
ple in general." In this they gave a brief account of their an- 
cient history, and their devotion to the church ; complained of 
the grant of Pope Adrian and the slavish timidity of the clergy 
who were afraid to make known the true conditions ; gave a de- 
tailed account of their wrongs under the rule of England, and 
ended by asking him to sanction their calling of Edward Bruce 
to their assistance.^ John XXII. sent no reply to the Irish, 
but wrote the king in June informing him that this letter had been 
received through the cardinals, and urging him to correct the 
grievances while he might be able to do so ; he also sent to Ed- 
ward in connection with his own letter the above petition and 
the donation of Adrian.^ He then notified the cardinals Gau- 
celin and Luke of his action in the matter and ordered them to 
assist in carrying out the necessary reforms in Ireland.* 

After the return of Eobert Bruce to Scotland, Edward was 
unable to make any aggressive movement though, as we have 
seen, he was not forced to defend himself against the regular 

' Char., etc., II., pp. 358, 359, 

^Fordun, Scotichronicon. Trans, in Taaffe's History of Ireland, I., p. 121 seq. 
Most important parts in Eichej, p. 189, seq. Facsimile of Irish 3fSS. Plate 
xii. , part 3. 

3 Cal. , Papal Beg. , Papal Letters, p. 440 ; Sullivan, Historice Catholiece IbernioB 
Compendum, p. 70. (Letter given entire. ) Theiner, 201. 

*Cal., Papal Reg., Papal Letters, p. 440. 



BRUCE IN IRELAND. 49 

English army. The devastations of war and the failure of 
crops for three successive seasons made the year 1317 and the 
first half of 1318 a period of terrible suflfering and loss of life 
from famine and disease.^ The conditions in Ulster were worse 
than elsewhere ; there were no cities with accumulated wealth 
or supplies, and they were shut off from very much communi- 
cation with the outside world. It is said that they were re- 
duced to eating each other and even the dead bodies from 
graves, which, the pious annalists say, was a just punishment for 
the sin of the Ulstermen who, while in the south, had eaten 
meat in Lent when there was no necessity for doing so.^ The 
harvest of 1318 was abundant however, and the prospect of it 
caused food prices to fall early in the summer ; the season, too, 
was unusually early so that bread was made from new corn on 
St. James' day, July 25th.^ By the last of September the 
Scots and their allies were strong enough to venture upon an- 
other campaign, and Edward Bruce, a man " that rest anoyit 
ay " * and who had doubtless found the long enforced period of 
inactivity hard to endure, decided not to wait for the assistance 
which the king of Scotland, after the taking of Berwick, was 
preparing to send. Accompanied by Mowbray, Soulis, Alan 
Steward and his three brothers, four of the Lacies, Walter, 
Hugh, Robert and Amalric, John Kermerdyne and Walter 
White, he marched with his army of not more than two thou- 
sand men ^ to a place called Faughard, within a short dis- 
tance of Dundalk.^ 

'All the Annals. Clyn, and the Annals in Char., etc., (Pembridge) speak 
especially of conditions in Ulster. 

^Char., etc., II., p. 357; Grace, p. 81. 
^Char., etc., II., p. 359; Grace, p. 93. 
* Barbour, Bk. XVIII. 
*Does not include the Iriyh allies. 
6 Barbour, XVIIl. ; all Annals. 



50 THE INVASION OF IRELAND. 

To meet this invasion the army of the Pale had to be reor- 
ganized. Richard de Clare was dead ; William de Burgh was in 
Connaught where the unconquerable MacDiarmada still waged 
war in behalf of one branch of the O'Connors; ^ Richard de 
Burgh, earl of Ulster, had taken little part in military affairs 
since the summer of 1315 and since his release had, at the king's 
request, spent most of his time in England ; ^ Edmund Butler 
although very successful on several occasions in putting down 
the uprisings of the natives had not been able to protect his own 
lands from the ravages of the Scots ; Mortimer, lord of the lands 
in most immediate danger, was in England ; and the newly ap- 
pointed justiciary, Alexander Bicknor, archbishop of Dublin, 
had just arrived. The archbishop, who had been received 
with honor by both laymen and clerics, immediately took a 
place of great influence and importance.^ On account of age 
and infirmity he did not wish to lead the army himself so, 
with the consent of the council, he appointed as leader of the 
English John Bermingham, "a man of great courage, stal- 
worthiness, practiced and apt in wars, wise, of a good con- 
dition, sober and circumspect."* The archbishop's good opin- 
ion of Bermingham had probably been gained from Mortimer 
whom he had assisted in expelling the Lacies, ^ and from whom 
he had received the honor of knighthood. The result justified the 
choice. Among those who were with him were Richard Tuit, 
Milo Verdun, Edmund, William, and Walter Bermingham and 
Walter de la Pole. The primate of Armagh, Roland Jorse, whose 

' Loch Ce, I,, p, 595. 

« Close Rolls, 11. , p. 576 ; Char., etc., II., pp. 357. 

^Char., etc., II., p. 359. 

* Book of Howth, pp. 144, 145. 

sClyn, p. 13. 



BRUCE IN IRELAND. 51 

loyalty to the English cause had been above suspicion and who 
had incurred the hatred of the O'Neills, ^ accompanied the army 
and absolved them all before battle,^ a fact which probably gave 
rise to the report in England that he was their military com- 
mander.^ For a couple of days at least the two armies seem to 
have faced each other without fighting ; Bermingham was anxious 
to acquaint himself with the conditions for there was great honor 
for him if he should win, and the story of his going to Bruce's tent 
disguised as a beggar, in order to recognize him on the field, * is 
not at all improbable. The Scottish army, small at the best, 
was weakened by differences of opinion. Bruce's own officers 
strongly advised against risking a battle until the expected rein- 
forcements arrived, and the Irish refused to engage against such 
odds. ^ In the battle which took place on the fourteenth of Oc- 
tober, the English were entirely successful. Bruce himself fell 
by the hand, supposedly, of John Maupas, a soldier who had 
come from Drogheda with twenty well-armed men and who had 
been put close to the front of the English force. ^ Lord Alan 
Steward while doing all he could to rally and encourage the 
Scots was singled out by Bermingham and slain. Sir John 
Soulis also fell. Thomas Mowbray, Hugh and Walter Lacy, 
and a few of the Scots made their way back to Carrickfergus 
under the protection of the Irish allies, and from there returned 
in the ships with the reinforcements sent by Robert but who had 
arrived too late for the battle.'' Bermingham was shortly after- 

1 Petition to Pope John XXII. 

»Char., etc., II., p. 360. 

' Walsingham, Historia Anglicana, I. , p. 154. 

*Book ofHowth, p. 144-146. 

5 Barbour, Bk., XVIII. 

^Char., etc., 11. , p. 360. 

'Barbour, Bk., XVIII. 



52 THE INVASION OF lEELAND. 

ward created earl of Louth and given large estates from the 
confiscated lands. ^ The victory at Faughard was decisive, Ed- 
ward Bruce had been defeated and killed, the Scots were soon 
driven out of the country and the invasion was at an end. 

1 Ghar.y etc., II., p. 360 ; Eymer, E. II., pp. 393, 397. 



CHAPTER III. 

CONCLUSION. 

The invasion of Ireland by the Scots, following as it did close 
upon the victory of Bannockburn, was evidently regarded both 
by the English government and the English colonists as a part 
of the Scottish war, undertaken by Edward Bruce, heir pre- 
sumptive of Scotland, acting under the direction of his brother 
Robert, for the purpose of dividing the strength of the enemy 
and looking toward the final union of the two countries. The 
Irish chiefs like O'Neill hoped, under the leadership of a " kins- 
man," to regain the independence of Ireland which would mean 
the reestablishment of the native kingdoms with Bruce as ard- 
righ, or monarch, a position of little more than nominal power. 
It was his claim to the latter and not his sovereignty as king 
of Ulster that Donald O'Neill was willing to surrender. As yve 
have no documents emanating from Bruce as king of Ireland^ 
and the records of his rule in Ulster are meager indeed, we 
know very little about his own idea of his position ; but from 
the nature of the man and the tone of his reply to the invitation 
from Wales^ it is easy to conjecture that it was scarcely that of 
the ancient ard-righ of the Irish Celts. The spirit of the move- 
ment was not much felt except in Ulster and Connaught, and 
only for a short time in the latter province ; and the fact that the 
allies, although present, took no part in the final battle, 

^ Char., etc., II., pref., pp. cxiii-cxviii. A grant of land executed by Edward 
Bruce in regal style was confirmed, five years later, by Robert. — Nat. MSS. 
Scot., II., 16, No. XXIII. Char., etc., II., pref., pp. cxxxi-ii. 

2 See p. 21. 

53 



54 THE INVASION OF IRELAND. 

strengthened at the end the impression that it had been an in- 
vasion rather than a war initated by the people of Ireland them- 
selves. The inevitable suffering and loss of life which the famine 
alone would have caused, as well as the horrors of war, were nat- 
urally associated in the popular mind with the presence of the 
invaders, for it is said that " there was not a better deed since 
the creation of the world than the killing of Edward Bruce, for 
there reigned scarcity of victuals, breach of promises, ill per- 
formances of covenants, and the loss of men and women 
throughout the whole kingdom for the space of three years and a 
half that he bore sway."^ 

Notwithstanding the fact that the war had shown the weak- 
ness of the home government and the lack of union among 
the English settlers themselves, the policy followed indicates 
that the political conditions were regarded as unchanged. Pro- 
vision was made against future invasion and for the protection 
of the northeastern coast by strengthening the castle of Car- 
rickfergus and maintaining a -fleet between Ireland and Scot- 
land,^ both of which were placed under the command of John de 
Athy,^ to the dissatisfaction of the powerful Mandeville family.* 
Orders were sent in February 1319 to Alexander Bicknor, 
justiciary, and the chancellor not to make any charters of 
pardon for adhering to the Scotch without special orders from 
the king,* and in May Thomas Fitz-John, John Bermingham, 
Arnold le Poer, and John Wogan were appointed commissioners 
to hold inquiries respecting the king's subjects who had aided 

1 Annah of Clonmac, F. M., III., p. 520. 
^ Close Soils, III., numerous orders, 1319-1322. 
''Ibid., p.. 58. 

* Rymer, R. , II. , p. 388 ; Close Bolls, III. , p. 127 ; Ulster Journal of Arch. , 
11. , p. 153 ; notes. 

^ Close Rolh, III., p. 55. 



CONCLUSION. 55 

Bruce.^ It was soon afterward decided to be more lenient, 
and the above commission was withdrawn/ while Mortimer, who 
returned as viceroy early in 1319, must have been given great 
power in this matter for in his trial in 1330 one of the charges 
against him was that he had obtained two hundred charters of 
pardon for those who should have been punished instead.^ Re- 
wards were given to men who had met with loss or distinguished 
themselves by special services from the confiscated property of 
those who had openly assisted the Scots,* such as the Lacies. 
Calls were made as before for men and provisions for the 
war with Scotland,^ but the establishment of a truce prevented 
England from discovering that these would likely have met 
with slight response. Although as we have seen the natives 
did not suspend their quarrels to sustain Bruce the English, 
while not fully united against him, did not engage in open 
conflict with each other ; but as soon as the war was over a gen- 
eral scramble for power began, in which the old race divisions 
became less distinct. However much the home government 
might ignore the fact, conditions in Ireland were not the same. 
The prestige of the great earl of Ulster as military arbiter 
was gone ; and the justiciary, a constantly changing officer, had 
ceased to be regarded as the representative of a strong govern- 
ment able to maintain order. The disturbances consequent 
upon the invasion of the Scots hastened events which were a 
natural result of the political and social changes which had 
been taking place unnoticed. During the previous reign 
while the king was busy making conquests in Wales, Scot- 

iRymer, R. 11. , 396. 

" Close Rolls, HI., p. 175. 

' JRolls of Parliament, II., p. 53a. 

* Kymer and Molls. 

^ Close Bolls, III., pp. 529, 530, 690 ; Eymer, R., II., 567. 



56 THE INVASION OF lEELAND. 

land, and on the continent, Ireland was left to itself so 
long as it supplied soldiers and provisions. The fact that 
the colonists quarrelled and fought among themselves caused 
no alarm for the same was true of the nobles of England, 
and the then unquestioned loyalty of the de Burgh family gave 
an appearance of security to Ireland as a possession of the crown. 
But the majority of the settlers outside of Dublin and its im- 
mediate vicinity had tended, on account of their isolation and 
association and intermarriage with the natives, to become less 
and less English in their language and habits of life. English 
feudalism was being constantly modified by the Irish clan 
system which it was supposed to have supplanted. Two legal 
codes were in force, for the colonists had found it to their advan- 
tage not to admit the Irishmen to equality with themselves be- 
fore the English law and had resisted the efforts of the king to 
do so. Furthermore the independence of the native chief ap- 
pealed strongly to the Anglo-Norman's love of power and the 
willingness of the Irish to follow him as a leader, when he iden- 
tified himself with their interests, is illustrated later in the case 
of the earl of Desmond. There then began to appear a dis- 
tinct Anglo-Irish class, the members of which had interests and 
ambitions antagonistic to the home government and often to each 
other, and in the next reign " English rebels," as distinct from 
"Irish enemies," is an accepted term used even in parliamentary 
statutes. The older families were further alienated by the dis- 
tinction made between the English by blood and the English by 
birth, and by the effort of Edward III. to revoke land grants 
which he claimed had been issued under false representation. 

Many fruitless efforts were made to reconcile the different 
factions, the record of which is proof of their increasing inde- 



CONCLUSION, 57 

pendence. Almost as soon as the Scots were defeated Richard 
Mandeville, disregarding the direct orders of the king, re- 
fused to support John de A thy and besieged the castle of 
Carrickfergus on the ground that he was its rightful cus- 
todian.^ In 1327 a personal quarrel between Maurice Fitz- 
Thomas and Arnold Power resulted in a struggle which lasted 
for several years and in which Lord Butler and William 
Bermingham took the part of the former and the de Burghs 
the latter.^ In 1329 the people of Louth rose against the earl 
and slew not only himself but nearly all the collateral heirs of 
the Bermingham family/ and when an effort was made to 
bring the murderers to justice they resisted the sheriff* and 
were finally allowed to go unpunished. A family difficulty be- 
tween the Mandevilles and William de Burgh, who had suc- 
ceeded to the earldom of Ulster in 1326, finally ended in his 
assassination in 1333.* His wife fled with her child, a little 
daughter, to England, and the control of the greater part of 
northern Ireland was resumed by the O'Neills of Tir-Eoghain 
and the Clann-Aedha-Buidh ; ^ the latter had become a distinct 
branch about the beginning of the fourteenth century and in 
1319 had been strong enough to dethrone Donald who, as so 
often before, was soon afterward able to " resume his sover- 
eignty."*" This clan after the assassination of William de 
Burgh obtained a permanent footing in Antrim.^ 

1 Char., etc., II., p. 365 ; Grace, p. 107 ; Kymer, K. II., p. 388. 

2 Char., etc., II., p. 364, 365 ; Book of Howth, pp. 148-162. Grace, pp. 104- 
105. 

^Book of Howth, pp. 152, 153 ; Char., etc., pp. 369, 370. Grace, p. 113. 

*Annab for year 1333 ; Book of Howth, pp. 159, 160. 

5"Clan Hugh Boy." 

^Annals Loch Ce, I., p. 597. 

' Ulster Journal of Arch., II., p. 57. 



58 THE INVASION OF IRELAND. 

The two leaders of the de Burgh family in Connaught re- 
leased from the overlordship of the earl of Ulster, and deprived 
also of his protection, decided to cast in their lot with the natives 
and establish their own independent authority by renouncing 
their allegiance, assuming Irish names, and adopting Irish 
customs. This adoption of the Irish language, dress and modes 
of life increased so rapidly that the Government in an effort to 
prevent its remaining English subjects from becoming " more 
Irish than the Irish" finally passed in 1367 the famous Statute 
of Kilkenny. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

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Annals of Ireland (a fragment), 1308-10, 1316-17 ; ed. J. T. Gilbert, 
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Annals of Loch Ce, 1014-1590 ; ed. W. M. Hennessy. Rolls Series, 
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Annales Hibernise ad annum 1349 ; John Clyn, ed. Richard Butler. 
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Annales Hiberniae, Jacobus Grace ; ed. with translation by Richard 
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Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland, earliest period to 1616, Four 
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Annals of Clonmacnoise, to 1408, translated into English ; ed. Denis 
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Annals of Tigemach; ed. Whitley Stokes. Revue Celtique, Paris, 
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59 



60 BIBLIOGEAPHY. 

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BIBLIOGRAPHY. 61 

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xS02 



